Twist tube



Jan. 7, 1941. w POOL 2,227,910

TWIST TUBE Filed Oct-3, 1959 g Sheets-Sheet 1 F76;

M AYTORMEYS w. POOL 'i'wIsT TUBE Jan. 7, 1941.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed 0a., 3, 1959 FIG. 2

.POOL

INVENTOR rm Jatented Jan. 7, v 1941 TAT-ES PATENT oFFica TWIST TUBE William Pool, 'Spontlon, near Derby, England, as-

signor to Celanese Corporation of America, a corporation of Delaware Application October 3, 1939, Serial Nb. 297,669

t in Great Britain October 10, 1938 9 @laimsQ (Ci. 57- 35) passing through it, a friction wheel adapted to make external driving contact with said spindle and anti-friction means for holding said spindle in engagement with said friction wheel. By the use of a friction wheel of relatively large diameter and of a rotating spindle in the form of a short light tube held in contact with said wheel in such a way that little frictional resistance is offered to the rotation of the spindle, very high speeds of rotation may readily be obtained.

' serting and securing in the bore of the spindle a- In order that the twist tube may have the desired twisting effect upon the yarn or thread passing through it, it is necessary that frictional contac, should be maintained between the yarn or thread and the interior of the spindle. While for this purpose any convenient trapping means I may be provided to ensure that the yarn'or thread cannot pass through the spindle without making firm frictionalcontact with some rotating part thereof, a convenient method of achieving this end is to provide the spindle with an internal helical passage along the length of the spindle. This may be done forexample by intwisted strip adapted to fit the internaldiameter of the spindle and so to divide its bore into two helical passages along one of which a yarn or thread may In order to prevent e ndwise movement of the spindle. small flanges may be formed outside the tube to'engage with a convenient locating means.

' belt! in working position" For thepurpose of maintaining contact between the rotating spindle and the friction .wheel which -'is to drive it, a convenient form of antifriction means is a pair of anti-friction wheels,-

that is to say a pair of overlapping wheels each -mounted on an axle whose diameter is small relatively tothe diameter of the wheel. Two such pairs of,.a nti-friction wheels maybe employed, one pair engaging on each sidepf the point of engagement between the spindle and the driving wheel, and on the opposite side of the spindle to p the driving wheel. The two pairs of friction wheels may be mounted as .a unit in a frame, and in order that the spindle may be readily removable the framemay be pivoted at one side and springs, or like means. I. a, e

. this purpose.

by a. weighted lever,

The twist tube of the present invention may be employed in any process in which twist tubes have heretofore been employed. It is particularly convenient in the crimping of yarns in the manner described for example in U. S. Patents Nos. 2,089,198, 2,089,192 and 2,111,209, according to which a crimp is imparted to yarns by setting twist in the yarns while they are travelling and subsequently removing the twist from the yarns. Each of the above specifications describes the use of a false twisting device, whereby the removal of the twist from the yarns is automatically providedfor, and the twist tube of the present invention may be used as a false twisting device for 7 it By way of example one form of apparatus in whichthe twist tube is employed for the purpose of crimping yarns will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying so drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation in section of the appar'atus;

Fig. 2 is a half-plan view, partly in section; and

Figs. 3 and 4 are details.

The apparatus'comprises a frame l on which is mounted a fiat circular vessel 2 having a cover 3. Vertical pillars 4 mounted on top of the cover carry a gear box '5 forthe winding mechanism of the apparatus. The main shaft 6 of the apparatus runs up through the centre thereof, being mounted in a footstepbearing I carried by the frame i, passing through a bearing 8 in the vessel 2 and a-bearing 9'in the cover 3, and being supported by a. thrust bearing ill in the centre of the gear box 5. "An electric motor ii for driving the main shaft 6 is mounted in the middle of the shaft by means of couplings i2.

*The lower end of the shaft 6 carries a gear 13 engaging withgear 14 secured to a further gear I5 mounted on the shaft IS in the frame i. The gear l5 engages with a gear i1 freely mounted on the shaft- .6, which in turn is secured to a bevel gear l8, engaging with a plurality of bevel gears i9 carriedon shafts 20 mounted in bearlngs 2! in the frame" i. At the outer ends of the shaft 20 are carried rollers 22. Beneath each of the rollers 2231s aj thread guide 23 carried by the frame 0. .--Beneatli eachof' the thread guides 23 is stood abobbinzd of continuous filament yarn from which the 'yam 25-is drawn through the the yarn passes through a twist tube 28 inaccordance with the invention, the twist being mounted in the casing} and passing through openings 29, 30 in the bottom of the casing 2, and the cover 3, respectively.

Each of the twist tubes 28 engages with the periphery of each of two large friction wheels 3| mounted at 32 upon the main shaft 5 and adapted to rotate therewith. Each tube 28 isheld in engagement with the friction wheels 2| by means of two pairs of anti-friction wheels 33 which are shown in plan view on the right-hand side of Fig. 2. The wheels 33 are mounted on vertical spindles 34 at the ends of arms 35 projecting from a block 35 mounted in guides 31 extending inwardly from the peripheral walls of the chamber 2. The block 35 is pressed towards the centre of the chamber by means of a spring 38. A rod 39 projecting radially outwards from the block 35 passes through a casing 2 and is secured to a pin it in an eccentric cam 4| having a handle 42. By these means, when the handle 42 is turned upwards the rod 39 is pulled outwards so compressing the spring 38 and withdrawing the friction wheels 33. An extension 43 of the block 35 surrounds the twist tube 28 and draws it out of engagement with the friction wheels 3|. Normally, however, the handle 42 hangs downwards so that the cam 4| permits the spring 38 to press the" block 35 together with the friction wheels 33 radially inwards,' whereby the twist tube 28 is held against the friction wheels. The four friction wheels 33 engage, as is shown in Fig. 3, with four grooves 44 round the twist tube 28, so as to hold it in position.

The whole chamber through an inlet 45 and the steam enters the twist tube 30 by means of small holes, one of which is shown at 45 in Fig. 3. It will be seen from Fig. 3 that the'twist tube 28 is in the form of a tube with a conical flange 41' at the outer end, and contains a twistedstrip of metal 48 secured in the bore thereof so as to divide the the yarn is caused to pass.

bore into two helical passages up one of which By means of the friction wheels 3| the twist tube 28 is rapidly rotated, and the yarn 25. as it passes through the twist tube, is given a very high degree of false twist. At thesame time,

I while this twist is possessed by and is beingimparted to the yarn 25 moist steam entering through the holes 45 acts upon the yarn and sets the false twist therein, in the manner described in U. S. Patents NOs. 2,089,199 and 2,111,209.

The yarn 25 emerges at the upper 'end of the twist tube with no twist therein as between the several continuous filaments, but with each filamen't, distorted by the twist temporarily imparted to the yarn by the twist tube 28.

Any condensation in the tube 28 or in the chamber 2 drips out through the hole 29 into the tray 21 which may, if desired, be maintained full of water so as to wet the yarn before it enters the twist tube 28. A draining tube 49 is provided in the tray 21 in order to drain off any excess of liquid in the tray.

On leaving the twist tube 28 the yarn proceeds through a guide 50 carried on the columns 4, and thence proceeds to a-take-up package 52. The package 52 is mounted in slots 53 (Fig. 4)

.in a bracket 54 mounted on the gear box 5 and rests with its surface on a drum 55. The drum- 55 is mounted on a shaft 51 carried in a bearing 55 in the gear box 5 and serves to drive the package 52 at a constant peripheral speed so. as

to take up the yarn and to draw it at a constant 2 islfilled with steam linear speed from the roller 22 by means of which and so the take-up packages 52, are driven. The

gear 52' engages with a gear 51, which is formed in one piece with a'shaft 58 passing through a bearing 58 at the topof the gear, box 5. A recess 1B in the shaft 58 constitutes a bearing for the upper end of the main shaft 5. The shaft 58 carries a large cam 11 having a cam groove 12 therein, engaged by cam followers 13 mounted on arms 14, of which one is provided for each diametrically opposite pair of packages 52. The arms 14 are guided at each end by horizontal slots in a. guide 15 secured at 15 to the upper face ofthe gear box 5. At each end of each of the arms 14 is a traverse guide 11 depending on arod 18 from the end of the arm 14 so that each package 52 is provided with a traverse guide through which the thread leavingthe thread guide 58 is traversed on to the package 52.

Having described my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A twist tube device for the handling of textileyarns, said device comprising a short hollow spindle adapted to make frictional contact with a yarn passing through it, a friction wheel adapted to make external driving contact with said spindle, and anti-friction means for holdin said spindle in engagement with said friction in engagement with saidfriction wheel.

3. A twist tube device for the handling of textile yarns, said device comprising a short hollow spindle having a plain bore, a twisted strip of width equal to the diameter of said bore secured within said bore so as to divide said boreinto two helical passages adapted to distort a yarn passing therethrough, and to ensure making frictional contact with said yarn, a friction wheel adapted to make external driving contact with said spindle, and anti-friction means for holding said spindle in engagement with said friction wheel.

4. ,A twist tube device for the handling of textile yarns, said device comprising a short hollow spindle adapted to make frictional contact with a yarn passing through it, a friction wheel adapt ed to make external driving contact with said spindle, and at least one pair of overlapping antifriction wheels mounted 0n parallel axes and adapted between them to hold said spindle in engagement with said friction wheel.

5. A. twist tube device for the handling of textile yarns, said device comprising .a short hollow spindle adapted to make frictional contactwith a yarn passing through it, a friction wheel adapted to make external driving contact, with said spindle, a frame, a pivot for one end of said frame,

typo. pairs of overlapping anti-friction wheels I 2,227,910 mounted on parallel axes in said frame and adapted between them to hold 'said spindle in engagement with said friction wheel, and releasable means for pressing the, other end of said frame towards said friction wheel.-

6. A twist tube device for thehandling of tex tile yarns, said device comprising a short hol low spindle having a plain bore, a twisted strip.

of width equal to the diameter of said bore secured within said bore so as to divide said bore into two helical passages adapted to distort a hollow spindle having aperforation in the wall thereof and adapted to make frictional contact with a' yarn passing through it, a friction wheel adapted to make external driving contact with said spindle, anti-friction means for holding said spindle in engagement'with saidrfriction wheel, a casing adapted to surround said spindle and to contain an agent adapted to set in said yarn-a temporary twist imparted by said. spindle and to supply said agent through said perforation to the interior of said spindle.

8. A yarn crimping device comprising a plurality of short parallel hollow spindles each having a perforation in the ,wall thereof and being adapted to make frictional contact with a yarn passing through it, a friction wheel adapted to make external driving contact with each of said spindles at different points on its periphery. antifriction means in connection with each of said spindles for holding said spindle in engagement with said, friction wheel, and a chamber surrounding said friction wheel, spindles and antifriction means, and adapted to be supplied with an agent for setting in each of said yarns a temporary twist imparted thereto by said spindles.

9. A yarn crimping device comprising a plurality of short hollow spindles each having a plain bore and a perforation in the wall thereof, a twisted strip of width equal to said bore secured within the bore of each spindle so as to divide said bore into two helical passages adapted to distort a yarn passing therethrough and to ensure making frictional contact with said yarn, a friction wheel adapted to make external driving contact witheach of said spindles at different points around its periphery, a frame in connec-g ,tion with each spindle, said frame being radially movable and urged towards the axis of said fric-' tion wheel, two pairs of overlapping anti-friction wheels mounted on parallel axes in each of said frames and adapted between them to hold the corresponding spindle in engagement with said friction wheel, and a chamber surrounding said friction wheel, spindles and anti-friction means. and adapted to be supplied with an agent for setting in each of said yarnsia temporary twist imparted thereto by said spindles.

. WIILIAM POOL. 

